Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Arcanum by M.C. Moulton : Guest Post

Information

Title: Arcanum

Author: M.C. Moulton

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Length: 232 pages

Release Date: February 2014

ISBN-13: 000-000000

Imprint: Mythos Press

Available Here

Between fighting a race of magic-wielding winged monsters, scaling Krakens, blinding Cyclops, running from Sirens, and being abducted by pirates it’s all Arc Arcanum can do to keep his head on straight; literally. After losing the only home he’s ever known, and with nowhere else to turn, Arc enlists with the Human Liberation Front to fight against a ruthless species known as the Winged Ones and prevent them from unleashing a world-wide human holocaust. He’s tasked (completely by accident) with escorting humanity’s last hope, a red-eyed android named Celeste, across the sea to one of the few remaining human safe havens. To make matters worse he’s accompanied by two fellow cadets: the feisty vixen Rose and the polyamorous playboy Prince, both of whom seem entirely set on making sure nothing goes as planned. It’s a magical journey that proves blood isn’t the only bond that makes a family.

What people are saying...

"If I could review this book in only one word: FANTASTIC. This book was truly a pleasure to read. The story is easy to understand at the beginning, but it is obvious that the author has many plans for his characters in the future. The characters are also well thought out, and definitely likeable. It seems as if the main characters are different aspects of the author's personality, and it shows. I also thoroughly enjoyed the book's numerous references to pop culture, as well as other things that have clearly influenced the author. The main weapon in this book, called a "sworb", is a unique weapon that I personally think has a lot of potential. But really, what is a novel worth without a good story? I was pleasantly surprised by how natural the story expanded throughout the adventure. I sincerely hope that this book has many sequels, as I am compelled to buy each and every book this author churns out. Don't miss this book!"

- Silver47

GUEST POST

Characterization in 5 Easy Steps

with No Baking
Required

I’m going to be honest here, when it comes to writing
fiction characterization is the single most important thing there is.
Plot, structure, syntax, locations; everything else takes second seat to characterization.
Don’t believe me?

Think of the last time you saw a movie where you said to
yourself, “This was a really good idea but they just gone done and ****** it
up.” Now think of a time where you were like, “Well it would have been good but
the actress playing so and so drove me crazy.”

Now picture a movie where you know it was bad, but the characters/actors were just so good you
didn’t care. I’m going to use Pulp Fiction as an example here. Plot wise Pulp
Fiction is a mess, makes hardly any sense, and has uncountable plot holes. But
you know what? No one cares. Why? Because the characters are so vibrant and
full of life that it distracts you from the above facts. (See Avatar: The Last
Airbender TV show vs. The Last Airbender movie for a perfect example of how
good characterization can literally make the same story 100x better).

Which is the reason it boggles my mind whenever I read
someone’s work and every character is a drone.

Don’t be a drone!

To help aid people in their quest for better characterization
I’m going to give you 5 quick tips on how to a more interesting and believable
character.

1) Stereotypes and archetypes are your friend

“But stereotypes are bad!” I hear you say. “They lead to
bland characters!”

Wrong.

Giving a character a stereotype or an archetype is an
excellent way to help mold what actions they would take or what they would say
in any given situation. Here’s an example.

Tiffany is the head
cheerleader. She is very blonde, very pretty, and very dumb. She has a math exam
next week. She is most likely going to fail.

I have now stereotyped Tiffany and she sounds boring. Let’s
try again.

Tiffany lost both her
parents in a tragic accident when she was seven. She was tossed around foster
homes until she eventually wound up living with the Smiths. She inherited her
mother’s good looks but because of the turmoil at home she never had time to
study or felt the need. She’s spending Friday night partying with her friends
instead of studying because she doesn’t see the point. What she doesn’t know is
that failing her math exam is going to get her kicked off the cheer squad.

Now Tiffany sounds a bit more interesting, but you know
what? Both of the above paragraphs are the same character. Tiffany is still
pretty, dumb, and going to fail that test. Nothing has really changed. You can
give her any back story you want and it doesn’t change the fact she will always
be pretty, dumb, and going to fail the test. You never have to wonder what
Tiffany is going to do when presented with a problem. You know she’ll party,
you know she won’t study, and you know she’ll fail.

The best part about stereotypes? Breaking them. Now that
Tiffany has been established with her stereotype this opens the door for
development as a character. Any number of things can happen that would cause or
force her to study, which puts her out of her element, and leads to growth. Is
it a cute boy? Does her best friend die? Is it a vampire? Whatever it is
Tiffany will be forced to deal with it and that is what makes her interesting.

2) Boring is Good. Exciting is Bad.

It sounds a little backwards I know, but one mistake I see a
lot of people do is make their characters far too interesting from the get-go.

If I told you Tiffany was not only a cheerleader, but also a
spy, a vegan, a vampire hunter, who also happens to be dating a vampire, an
expert marksman, a Nobel prize winner, a mad scientist, and a painter, she
would not only be completely unidentifiable as a character, she would come with
so much baggage it would cause readers’ heads to explode trying to keep it all
straight. If your story revolves around this Tiffany suddenly finding out her
parents are mermaids, everyone is going to go “Who the **** cares she’s a
vampire hunter scientist who only eats vegetables!”

The boy who lived is the perfect example of why boring is
good.

Harry starts out extremely uninteresting as a character. He
lives in a mundane house with an abusive family, wears broken glasses and
crappy clothes, and has absolutely no friends.

Then a giant bearded man shows up and starts singing, “I
know we just met, and this is crazy, but my name’s Hagrid, you’re a wizard
Harry!”

And Harry’s all like, “I’m a what!?”

Harry started boring then moved on to exciting and took us
along for the ride. Would it have been nearly as interesting if he had started
out as a wizard? No, because then we wouldn’t have gotten to experience the
transition from mundane to extraordinary with him.

3) Say It Out Loud

Unless you’re extremely concerned with your image or your family
is ready to call the loony bin on you, I’ve found an excellent way to develop
speech is to literally say it out loud.

Acting can be fun. Pretend you are your characters when
you’re writing a scene. Say the dialogue out loud. Does it sound natural? Is
that really something someone would say? Is that how they would say it?

This works even better for accents or strange/foreign speech
patterns. Is one of your characters a pirate? Rustle up your best pirate voice
and start spitin’ out the lines. Is the heroine a Victorian era debutante? Try
to be as posh as you possibly can. Often times you’ll find that lines you write
sound a lot different in your head than when you say them out loud.

4) Drowning in a Sea of Axe
Murdering Clowns from Hell

If every character in your story is an axe murdering clown
from hell, they might as well all not be axe murdering clowns from hell. See
where I’m going with this?

It’s tempting to give all of your characters likable
personalities, interesting back stories, and awesome dialogue. Tiffany is a
vampire hunter. John is a demon from hell. Alex is a werewolf. Bambi is
ironically a half-human half-deer hybrid. They also all have sharks for pets.

The problem now is that everyone is far too interesting.
None of them stand out because the next person in line is just as crazy.
There’s no proverbial diamond in the rough. This is just as bad as having all
of your characters be mundane drones. Sometimes side characters have to take a
back seat to let your main one shine through. You then run the risk of what I
like to call “Misplaced Protagonist Syndrome”.

We’ve all been there. You’re reading a book, watching a
movie, playing a video game, and there’s a character that is just far more
interesting than the main character? You say to yourself, “Man, I really wish
we were following that guy, because whatever he’s doing sounds way more awesome
than what we’re doing. Example time with our heroine Tiffany again.

Tiffany stirred her
tea.

“Is it good?” John
asked.

“Very,” she replied.

“I like chamomile
personally,” Bambi said between brief sips from her cup.

“Does anyone know what
time it is?” Tiffany asked.

“Nope,” everyone
replied in unison.

Suddenly the door
burst open and Alex came stumbling in covered from head to toe in blood. His
wide panic stricken eyes swept across the room as his twitching fingers fumbled
with the silver knife in his hand. His rapid breaths showed no sign of slowing
as he tried to catch his breath. A handful of dragon scales and jewels tumbled
from his pocket onto the ground.

“Care to join us for
some tea?” Tiffany said as she offered up a cup to Alex.

“Why, yes please,”
Alex said, taking his place at the table.

Unless you have no soul your reaction to the above paragraph
should be “Why on earth are we following Tiffany drinking tea instead of Alex
slaying dragons!?” The main character has now been completely overshadowed by
one of the supporting cast and readers are distancing themselves from your
protagonist. I think it goes without saying but that is a bad thing.

Side Note: If the above paragraph was written to create
suspense as to what was going on with Alex that’s fine, but you’d better damn
well TELL us what happened.

5) Believability and Reasoning

This is probably the single most important idea when it comes
to characterization which is why I left it until last. This ties in very
strongly with creating and developing a plot, but the general idea is that your
characters can do absolutely anything you want them too as long as it’s
believable within the confines you’ve set. Tell me what’s wrong with this
example.

John held out a bag of
cocaine to Tiffany. “Try it.”

“No,” Tiffany replied.
“I don’t do drugs.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“Come on.”
“Okay.”

The ending of this exchange is ridiculous. Tiffany has
absolutely zero reason to try to cocaine. In fact, not only has she repeatedly
rejected it up until the end, she denies the notion entirely by letting the
reader know she doesn’t do drugs. It’s out of character and makes no sense. If
you were Tiffany would you have just up and changed your mind? But the problem
is you, as a writer, NEED Tiffany to try those drugs for some reason. Maybe
it’s for character development or plot line reasons, but one way or another you
have to get her to try it. This can be remedied very easily by introducing a
believable element into the story. Let’s try again.

John held out a bag of
cocaine to Tiffany. “Try it.”

“No,” Tiffany replied.
“I don’t do drugs.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“Come on.”

“No.”

“Come on,” John
repeated as he raised the barrel of his pistol against Tiffany’s temple.
“Okay…”

Now Tiffany has a very valid reason for trying the cocaine
in that not doing so would most likely result in her death. It’s also
believable John would have a gun since he appears to be a drug dealer of sorts.

With that said everyone is happy, believable, and on their
way to becoming wonderful characters (if you consider a drug dealer and a crack
whore vampire vegan cheerleader wonderful).

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